diburning wrote:What causes the drawbar issue? Is the drawbar attached to the truck?

The drawbar is attached to the carbody. The issue here is the front door pops out and slides along the carbody toward the nose. Since the entire door moves in that direction, part of the door obstructs the drawbar's swing clearance. On the Type 7 and 8, the front door is split into two leaves that fold outward and stay within the doorway.

I would have to agree with the above assessment. The only station with a platform on the right side of a sharp right turn is Boston College, and there's no way to tell from Google Maps whether that's sharp enough to be a problem.

"The destination of this train is [BEEP BEEP]" -announcement on an Ashmont train.

I don't see that it's a problem at all. The BC platform is nowhere near sharply curved enough for the drawbar to interfere with the door (if it does at all), so the only potential issue is if the train derails in a really tight curve. In that case you don't open the front door.

Honestly, I don't know why people are so down on the looks of the Type 9s. They're not gorgeous, but they're not hideously fugly like the Type 7s. The 7s look like a PCC that got in an accident; at least the 9s look like they might have been built in this century.

There isn't anyplace where it would be an issue on a platform I don't think since there aren't any sharp right curve platforms (trains straighten out enough at BC), In other areas, issue number one would probably be solved with "workarounds". For instance if a train is parked coming out of the Reservoir Yard heading into Boston, the operator of the second car (and you are supposed to have two operators onboard when coming out of the yard), can enter through the middle door (assuming that these cars have key access at all doors like the 8s but not like the 7s). Also simple enough to not allow stopping of trains on that curve and having all operators board on Track 1 and Track 2. If there is an absolute red flag due to emergency evacuation, then things might get problematic. Although off the top of my head, the only sharp right curve is maybe Boylston? Obviously this incident must have happened somewhere. My guessing is in Riverside Yard? So if it's only a problem in the yards that may be a way to allow passenger use on the lines.

Concerning the styling, I was always shocked that Pininfarina had anything to do with the Type 8 and even put their name on the side of that thing!

ceo wrote:I don't see that it's a problem at all. The BC platform is nowhere near sharply curved enough for the drawbar to interfere with the door (if it does at all), so the only potential issue is if the train derails in a really tight curve. In that case you don't open the front door.

Honestly, I don't know why people are so down on the looks of the Type 9s. They're not gorgeous, but they're not hideously fugly like the Type 7s. The 7s look like a PCC that got in an accident; at least the 9s look like they might have been built in this century.

To me the Type 9's are not nearly as horrendous as the 8's, but that is literally the only good thing I can say about them. Type 8's are my least favorite rolling stock in the country, they are just so goddamn ugly with no design whatsoever despite the Pininfarina name on the side(how do you design so many beautiful cars and then the trolley you make into a flying brick. Could not disagree with you more on the 7s. In the new paint scheme they are probably my favorite MBTA rolling stock. It is the interior that really brings you into that mid-90's mindset, with a nice new new interior from the ground up inside the shell of a 7 you would have one smexy trolley.